Financial Markets and Economy
Saudi Arabia could see more instability if oil doesn't get back up to $60 (Business Insider)
With the OPEC production deal holding, at least for the moment, questions have now arisen over how prospects look for the cartel’s biggest producer. It’s been a strange few years for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as its endured budget deficits for the first time in its modern history, stagnation in oil prices and rising competition from other OPEC members and the American shale boom.
Euro zone yields spike as Yellen comments add to pressure on ECB (Reuters)
Euro zone bond yields rose sharply on Thursday as comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen overnight were viewed as ratcheting up pressure on the European Central Bank's commitment to its loose monetary policy.
How stocks perform in a new president’s first 100 days — in one chart (Market Watch)
Donald Trump is about to get his first 100 days as U.S. president, and one strategist is highlighting how stocks have fared historically during a new president’s initial months on the job.
It’s time to rewrite the rules of economics to end the growing chasm of inequality (The Guardian)
The debate taking place between the snow-topped peaks of Davos this week will be dominated by one issue and one issue alone, the surge in inequality. In a democracy, anger isn’t abstract. As both the vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump show, it turns up on polling day.
Fund manager who correctly predicted 2014 drop in oil now sees prices in the $30s (Market Watch)
The dark days of February 2016, when oil and stock prices were in a race to the bottom, are a distant memory. The lows were hit on Feb. 11, when the S&P 500 Index closed a bit above 1,829 and West Texas Intermediate crude settled just north of $26 a barrel.
Davos: What's New, What's Not…And What's Next (Forbes)
After my 20 years of ascending the “Magic Mountain” of Davos every January, one might run the risk of thinking that the world will continue in the future as it has in the past. Often, the discussions on this remote Swiss mountaintop seem very far removed from the events—and crises—shaping developments elsewhere in the world.
On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Treasury secretary took the hot seat in Washington, and during his confirmation testimony, he endorsed a classic budget trick that could steal from an entire generation.
How to move to Canada and become a Canadian citizen (Business Insider)
If the outcome of the 2016 presidential election has you feeling disillusioned with American democracy, you may find yourself imagining a move to Canada.
Soros Says Markets to Slump With Trump, EU Faces Disintegration (Bloomberg)
America has elected a would-be dictator as president, the European Union is disintegrating, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May won’t last long as her nation prepares to secede from the EU, and China is poised to become an even more repressive society, the investor told Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua from the World Economic Forum in Davos.
US Home Construction Jumos, Led By More Apartment Building (Associated Press)
U.S. builders ramped up home construction in December, led by a surge of apartment building, while single-family houses lagged.
NY Fed's Dudley, Retail Sales, Home Prices And … Bubbles (Confounded Interest)
The fate of U.S retailers, many of whom are under siege from online competitors, may rest in the prospects for the U.S. housing market, said William Dudley, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in an interview done on Tuesday morning by Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual convention about evolving consumer behavior.
Declassified CIA Memos Reveal Probes Into Gold Market Manipulation (Zero Hedge)
The CIA recently released a series of declassified 1970s memos relating to the gold market and the newly created SDR. These memos give new insight how the CIA viewed the gold market, the perceived manipulation of gold and the potential for the SDR to become a gold substitute in the international monetary system.
Pearson CEO Stuck in ‘Last Chance Saloon’ Faces Investor Wrath (Bloomberg)
Pearson Plc Chief Executive Officer John Fallon faces the daunting task of securing support from skeptical shareholders after the company lost more than a quarter of its value in its worst-ever day of trading.
Deconstructing Branko Milanovic’s “Elephant Chart”: Does It Show What Everyone Thinks? (Peterson Institute For International Economics)
The problems of slow income growth afflicting low and middle class workers in rich countries are widely attributed to globalization. Within economic policy circles, a figure known as the “Elephant Chart,” produced by the former World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, seems to offer dramatic proof of that proposition.
25 Years of Neocon-Neoliberalism: Great for the Top 5%, A Disaster for Everyone Else (Of Two Minds)
One unexamined narrative I keep hearing is: "OK, so neocon-neoliberalism was less than ideal, but Trump could be much worse." Let's start by asking: would Syrian civilians agree with this assessment?
Politics Bleed Into U.S. Briefing on World’s Warmest Year (Bloomberg)
On Wednesday, some of the U.S. government’s top climate scientists held a call to discuss how global temperatures keep rising.
A More Dovish Janet Yellen Speaks Again, Sees No Risks Of Economic Overheating (Zero Hedge)
Following her Trump-weaker-dollar-destroying performance yesterday, Fed chair Janet Yellen reprises her role as Mnuchin-slayer tonight with an appearance at Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research. In a speech entitlted "The Economic Outlook and Conduct of Monetary Policy" she is expected to deliver a similarly hawkish tone confirming multiple rate hikes (though no rush) and potentially erasing the dollar weakness from today.
Dow Tumbles Into Red For 2017 On "Computer-Guided Sell Program" (Zero Hedge)
Bloomberg is blaming a "computer-guided sell program" as US equities are tumbling, sending The Dow into the red for 2017.
GOLDMAN SACHS: The bond market is wrong, and stocks are going to move higher (Goldman Sachs Asset Management)
Stocks and bonds today send signals that can be difficult for investors to parse. Equities, especially in the US, are richly priced and suggest confidence in the economic expansion. But bonds are priced as if a recession lies ahead even after the late 2016 interest rate increases.
EUR Plunges After Draghi Highlights "Downside Risks", Downplays Inflation (Zero Hedge)
Just as we warned was likely, Mario Draghi first remarks were dovish, highlighting the potential downside risks in the EU economy and suggest that inflation trends were not convincing…. in other words, the un-taper is on the cards. And EURUSD reacted instantly.
Companies
Here's what Wall Street is saying about Netflix's blowout subscriber growth last quarter (Business Insider)
Netflix surprised Wall Street on Wednesday when it reported fourth-quarter earnings and subscriber growth.
Tesla Short Interest Rips To A New High Following Morgan Stanley’s Upgrade (Value Walk)
Tesla stock climbed today following an upgrade from one of the company’s biggest fans and a price target increase from one of its biggest naysayers. But these aren’t the only numbers on Tesla that are on the rise today.
Pittsburgh Mills Galleria Mall Sold For $100 At Foreclosure Auction (Former Valued AT $190 Million)
A Pittsburgh PA area shopping mall just sold for a whopping $100, ten years after it was valued at $190 million. And was appraised at $11 million in August.
American Apparel kicks off mass layoffs, is going out of business for good (Think Progress)
American Apparel, where the tops are always cropped and the spandex is forever sparkly, started laying off its 2,400 workers in Southern California on Monday, just over a year after declaring bankruptcy. The company is preparing to close or sell its California factories.
Technology
Tesla’s Autopilot Vindicated With 40% Drop in Crashes (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Department of Transportation has closed its investigation into a May 7 collision with a tractor-trailer that killed a driver using Autopilot. The agency found no indication of a safety problem with it.
Tesla’s Triple Gift From NHTSA: No Blame In Crash, No Recall, Great Safety Results (The Huffington Post)
A long-awaited National Highway Traffic Safety Administration review of a fatal accident that occurred in May 2016 has concluded the driver’s Tesla Model S, which was in self-driving “Autopilot” mode at the time of the crash, was not defective. As such, the federal agency will not seek a recall of Tesla vehicles.
Google’s Sergey Brin ‘Surprised’ by Speed of AI Advancements (Bloomberg)
Alphabet Inc. has been one of the world’s biggest spenders on artificial intelligence. The advancements have even surprised company co-founder Sergey Brin.
Expedia Reads Your Mind (and Face) to Beat Rivals (Bloomberg)
The travel company Expedia is trying to read my mind. Or more accurately, it's trying to analyze my emotions in order to figure out how I’m feeling as I go about booking travel on its website.
How Electric Vehicles Could End Car Ownership as We Know It (The Wall Street Journal)
If I say “personal electric vehicle,” you might think “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” or maybe “exploding hoverboards.” You don’t think global transportation revolution.
When the Mother of Invention Is a Machine, Who Gets Credit? (Singularity Hub)
What do the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush, about a thousand musical compositions and even a few recent food recipes all have in common?
Politics
D.C. Braces for Tens of Thousands of Protesters During Trump’s Inauguration Week (NBC News)
Tens of thousands of people are preparing to hit the streets of Washington D.C. during the 45th president's inaugural week. While some will march in support of the president or various causes, a growing number will be on hand to show their opposition to the newly elected president and his administration.
Russia has gone crazy for Trump as Moscow savors Obama’s departure (The Washington Post)
Call it Trumpomania. Or Trumpophrenia. Or any of a number of other Trumpisms that have popped up in Russia as this country counts down the moments to President-elect Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House.
China makes it clear they are ready to lead on climate if Donald Trump won’t (Think Progress)
Taking the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, Chinese president Xi Jingping had a message for President-elect Donald Trump: Don’t renege on the United States’ international promises, including the Paris climate agreement.
Ethics Lawyers Call Trump's Business Conflicts 'Nakedly Unconstitutional' (NPR)
Trump sees no problem. "I have a no-conflict situation, because I'm president," Trump said at a recent press conference. He was correctly referring to the federal conflicts-of-interest law that covers Cabinet secretaries, but not presidents.
Republican Governors Balk as Congress Races to End Obamacare (Bloomberg)
Republican governors, while remaining publicly committed to ending Obamacare, are telling their congressional delegations that repealing the health-care law without an adequate replacement would ravage budgets and swamp hospitals with the uninsured.
How the GOP's tax plan could affect the real-estate market (The Fiscal Times)
Until recently, the mortgage interest deduction was right up there with Social Security as a sacrosanct institution on Capitol Hill, protected by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Trump press secretary turns press conference into infomercial for Trump’s D.C. hotel (Think Progress)
During a pre-inauguration news conference on Thursday, Sean Spicer, President-elect Donald Trump’s soon-to-be press secretary, dismissed concerns his boss is using the power of the presidency to promote his Washington, D.C. hotel and thereby line his pockets.
Major Fake News Operation Tracked Back to Republican Operative (The Intercept)
Cam Harris, a recent college graduate hoping to build a career as a political consultant, received an unwelcome email from a New York Times reporter this month. As the reporter, Scott Shane, recounted on the front page of Thursday’s Times, he had discovered that Harris was the publisher of a fake news site dedicated to smearing Hillary Clinton.
Fascinating poll findings: Only white Americans like Trump (Alternet)
Most of the attention given to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll has centered on the finding that Donald Trump will take office as the most unliked president of the last four decades, making him historically unpopular.
Trump’s hostile takeover of the American brand (Columbia Journalism Review)
Since the election I have heard a network anchor and a Timescorrespondent speak independently of an ongoing “soul-searching” process at their organizations and give exactly the same examples of what the media “got wrong.”
Putin’s throwback propaganda playbook (Columbia Journalism Review)
Russian President Vladimir Putin had dreamed of becoming an intelligence agent ever since high school. “What amazed me most was how one man’s effort could achieve what whole armies could not,” the former KGB agent later recalled. “One spy could decide the fate of thousands of people.”
Life on the Home Planet
In Alaska, Minus 59 Takes Toll On Cars, Pipes, State Of Mind (Associted Press)
Cynthia Erickson woke up early, hoping her four furnaces were working. She owns a grocery store and the building that houses the post office in the village of Tanana, Alaska, which ranked as the coldest place in the state Wednesday. The official temperature at the airport with a single gravel runway was minus 54 degrees. Nearby, along the Yukon River, it was 5 degrees colder.
3 Ways to Create More Content (and Views) from Your Blogs (Entrepreneur)
Content Marketing is still one of the best ways to generate leads for B2B companies. Yet many entrepreneurs struggle with creating a successful content strategy.
Alanis Morissette's manager admits to stealing $4.8 million from the singer (US Weekly)
Alanis Morissette’s former managerJonathan Schwartzadmitted to stealing $4.8 million from the singer (and $2 million from other clients) in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday, January 18, the BBC reports.
Pope Francis’ popularity among Americans goes from high to higher (Religion News Service)
Politicians and celebrities can only envy Pope Francis’ popularity ratings.
Where many in the public eye drop in favor over time, the pope’s popularity among Americans has jumped, according to a study released by the Pew Research Center on Wednesday (Jan. 18).
Physicists say they've manipulated 'pure nothingness' and observed the fallout (Science Alert)
According to quantum mechanics, a vacuum isn't empty at all. It's actually filled with quantum energy and particles that blink in and out of existence for a fleeting moment – strange signals that are known as quantum fluctuations.
